WINDY!!! We have winds up to 30 mph. Now I know some of my coastal readers that are use to hurricanes will laugh at that saying itÂ’s nothing. And I appreciate that; itÂ’s how I react when I hear someone from Florida complain about it being cold at 50 degrees. What you have to remember is that we are not accustomed to winds like thisÂ… outside of tornadoes.

Clone had his preschool graduation today; yea IÂ’ll go off on that at another time. It was held at a local park that had a decent play area and a nice shelter. The wind just reaped havoc on the picnic part of the day. They tried cooking over a grill, but had a problem getting the charcoal lit, until Mr. Re-enactor boy got it started using twigs and dried grass. Then once it was started the wind blew the coals so hot that they warped the grate AND it only lasted for 20 minutes before having to add more charcoal to keep it going. Folks, I could have used this fire to smith iron. Yea, tried as I might, there was nothing I nor anyone there could come up with to help that situation. We didnÂ’t have the right materials for what we knew would work.

Bags of chips and bowls of various salads were being blown off the tables. At one point a pan half filled with hot dogs almost blew off the table, but another parent caught it. Table clothes and plates (with and without food) were flying across the park. If it wasnÂ’t for the fact that I was trying to dodge the debris, I would have found this highly entertaining.

But the funniest thing that happened was when some 4-year-old little girl decided to slide down a pole right as the wind gusted really hard. She literally flapped in the wind like a flag for a couple of seconds before her mother grabbed her. The poor thing was terrified. But not terrified to try it again and get upset when the wind didnÂ’t blow her half way to Oz.

Right now IÂ’m sitting in the house with the boys. Ktreva is in Springfield so IÂ’m playing single dadÂ… grumble. ItÂ’s 84 degrees in the house, but it sure doesnÂ’t feel like it. When the wind blows it turns the entire house into a wind tunnel. Who needs fans?

Posted by: Contagion at 05:09 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Some of the stuff kids pick up is just plain funny. Yesterday I was playing with Clone. It devolved into a tickle fight. I’d tickle him, he’d run away, and then try to tickle me. Repeat this cycle over and over numerous times. Finally I had to break away to go to the bathroom. When I came walking back into the living room I looked Clone in the eye and said, “Are you read to be tickled?” He jumps to his feet, places his hands on his hips, looks me in the eye and with all seriousness says:

“You wanna piece of me?”

The funniest part was that he did the tough guy head shake when he said it. You know the head shake; the one you see the goombas do in all the gangster movies when they are being tough. No, not the one the black ladies do when they are mad, think Joe Pesci in Goodfellas. Then he sticks his right hand out and does the Kung Fu “Come here” hand wave.

I thought I was going to have an asthma attack I was laughing so hard.

Then he got mad because I was laughing, apparently he was being serious. So I had to take him down a notch. Needless to say, much laughter ensued for the next 30 minutes.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:36 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 OMG - I love that boy! He cracks me up.

Another 10 years and you're gonna have your hands full!!

Posted by: Tammi at May 24, 2007 12:04 PM (Bitcf)

2 ROTFL

Posted by: vw bug at May 24, 2007 01:40 PM (FPOeI)

3 Dude, I so have to get Youngerspawn over there to play with Clone.

I had this mental image of Clone doing that and of YS doing his "Your kung-fu is weak!" thing and I couldn't stop laughing.

We could start UFC for toddlers and make a mint

Posted by: Graumagus at May 25, 2007 07:09 AM (flE7E)

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We all know parents have a direct influence on how their kids act and behave. There is even a correlation between what the child likes and dislikes. This can make for some interesting behavior and comments from kids, especially if their father is a Gun loving, re-enacting, zombie infatuated, and football fanatic.

It all started a couple of months ago when I had some friends over and Clone walks into the living room and announces that “When the zombies come, you need to break out the stairs with a hammer”. I was proud, at 4 he knows basic defense versus zombies. A couple of weeks ago he comes up to me carrying his double barreled toy shotgun with the barrel pointed at the floor. All of a sudden he would snap it to his shoulder and start shooting at things and yelling “Fire in the Hole” before each shot. After the shot he would point the barrel back down to the ground. When I asked him what he’s shooting at he tells me, “I’m shooting the zombies in the head.” Gun safety and killing zombies, I was proud.

Last Sunday we were watching Shaun of the Dead, and I changed the channel to something I thought he would like more. He pitched a fit. “DAD!!!! I want to watch the zombies!!!!!” I kid you not, he threw such a temper tantrum that I almost didn’t turn it back on. Then while watching the movie he says to me, “When we go camping (IE re-enacting), we’ll have to shoot the zombies.” Huh? There are no zombies at the re-enactments. We talk for a little bit and I figure out that he thinks that some of the native’s are zombies. It has to do with their face paint. It took some convincing that Indians are not Zombies…. Well not all Indians.

Then finally on Monday we get home and he wants to go outside and play football with his brother. Okay no problem. It was when he referred to the football as the zombie head that I realized something.

Maybe I shouldnÂ’t talk so much about zombies with him in the room.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:43 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Yesterday we had a high between 68 and 70; (Depending on what weather source you look at) today they are calling for a high between 88 and 94 (again depending on what weather source you are using). That is a 20 degree difference overnight. It was cold enough yesterday that Ktreva turned the heat back on so she didnÂ’t have to run around in a winter parka. Now today I know the family is going to want to turn on the air conditioning.

Why canÂ’t the weather just be a tad bit more consistent!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:22 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Hey, at least 95% of our state isn't on fire....

Posted by: Graumagus at May 14, 2007 08:42 AM (FFj2f)

2 Hey it's gorgeous!! I'll take this kind of weather anyday... :-)

Posted by: Richmond at May 14, 2007 09:18 AM (e8QFP)

3 I hear you...but hey, at least it's not snowing!

Posted by: Cindy Swanson at May 14, 2007 10:59 AM (RHIA9)

4 Grau: We couldn't get so lucky.

Cindy: I wish it was snowing!

Posted by: Contagion at May 14, 2007 05:53 PM (T4WRc)

5 Yeah, you read my mind. Right after I wrote that I got thinking that certain large areas of Illinois on fire would be like an enema for this state....

Posted by: Graumagus at May 15, 2007 10:01 AM (FFj2f)

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We received a progress report for Boopie tonight. It seems that he is failing one of his classes. After talking with him we discovered it's because he's not doing his homework again. We already had pre-set consequences for this, so we banned him from video games until his grades come back up.

He's all bummed out, he just got his new Guitar Hero 2 game and was really liking it. So he started pouting and decided that he was going to hide in the closet. I didn't realize where he went to, and couldn't find him in the house. I didn't think to look in his closet, because he's 14 and I thought he would have outgrown that. Calling out from him I hear his voice coming from his room. I go in there, and can't see him. I call his name again, then I hear his voice coming from the closet.

I ask what he's doing in there (not sure I want to know). He tells me nothing, he's just hiding in there. So I say, "You're 14, you're too old for that. It's time to come out of the closet." He peeks his head through the door and looks at me with a slight smirk on his face.

At that point I realized what I said.

Yea, that's another therapy session I'm going to be paying for.

Posted by: Contagion at 07:42 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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For Boopie's 14th birthday he wanted Guitar Hero 2. Okay, no problem. we bought it for him.

But now I regret it. Tonight I'm out back grilling (more on that later) when he comes running out and says, "Dad, do you know the song "Freebird"?" Well of course I do. So he asks me, is it any good?

Yea, kids today have no culture.

For Boopie:

Learn the classics boy!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:48 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I haven't played that game but I'm glad to hear they have some classics on there.

Posted by: Sissy at May 09, 2007 06:44 PM (y2kUf)

2 So did you tell him the truth... that it sucks?

Posted by: That 1 Guy at May 09, 2007 09:19 PM (amJz2)

3 We are loving Guitar Hero II around here - even me! :-)

Posted by: Richmond at May 11, 2007 08:12 AM (e8QFP)

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Today while at work, I received a call from my mother. She called to tell me that Clone is in a bit of trouble. Today at school they were going over fire safety. You know, stop, drop and roll, what do to in case of a fire, etc etc etc. Everything was fine until they left the building for the day. As he was walking out, he saw the fire alarm.

Yep, Clone walked right over to it and pulled it. Setting off all the warning lights and buzzers. Why did he do it? Because they pointed it out to the kids and said only pull it in case of fire. He had never noticed it before and wondered what it did. So he pulled it.

The school emptied, the teachers ran in a panic to call the fire department to advice it is a false alarm, the kids ran went outside like they were supposed to, only they had their little hands covering their ears. Apparently they thought it was great fun. The kids that is, not the teachers. I never did find out if the kids got to see the fire trucks. IÂ’m sure they would have loved that. Then again I think that only would have provoked them to pull the alarm again.

Only my kids.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:07 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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